On-Farm Apprenticeships

323 Pages·2017·2.21 MB·English

On-Farm Apprenticeships: Labor Identities and Sociocultural Reproduction within
Alternative Agrifood Movements

Lorien Eleanora MacAuley

Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

In

Agricultural and Extension Education

Kim L. Niewolny, Chair
Thomas G. Archibald
Anthony Kwame Harrison
Max O. Stephenson, Jr.

October 23, 2017
Blacksburg, Virginia

Keywords: Beginning Farmer, Apprenticeship, Alternative Agrifood Movements, Farm Labor,
Social Justice
On-Farm Apprenticeships: Labor Identities and Sociocultural Reproduction within
Alternative Agrifood Movements
Lorien Eleanora MacAuley
ABSTRACT
On-farm apprenticeships are gaining momentum as an important strategy for beginning
farmer training. They are also a space for identity work and rehearsal of alternative agrifood
movement practice (AAMs; MacAuley & Niewolny, 2016; Pilgeram, 2011). AAMs embody and
recursively construct values of biophysical sustainability, food quality, egalitarianism, and
agrarianism (Constance, Renard, & Rivera-Ferre; 2014). However, AAMs have been critiqued
for disproportionately representing upper- to middle-class white cultural norms (Allen, 2004;
Guthman, 2008a; Slocum, 2007), for romanticized agrarian ideology (Carlisle, 2013), and for
mechanisms reproductive of neoliberalism, which buttresses the dominant agrifood system
(Guthman, 2008b). These AAM discourse elements are expressed in on-farm apprenticeships.
On-farm apprenticeships are variably understood as beginning farmer training (Hamilton, 2011),
as inexpensive farm labor (MacAuley & Niewolny, 2016; Pilgeram, 2011), and as sites of
tension between economic and non-economic attributes (Ekers, Levkoe, Walker, & Dale, 2016).
I illuminate these dynamics within on-farm apprenticeships through the complementary
theoretical lenses of cultural historical activity theory (Engeström, 1999), cognitive praxis
(Eyerman & Jamison, 1991), and cultural identity theory (Hall, 1996). I employed critical
ethnographic case study methodology to explore issues of power, social reproduction, and
equity. I conducted 53 days of participant observation, worked alongside 19 apprentices on six
farms for 37 days, conducted interviews (n=25), and completed document analysis (n=407). I
observed white spaces and class-based work values re/produced, mediated by AAM discourse.
Furthermore, I observed three distinct objectives within the activity system: (1) beginning farmer
training, (2) inexpensive labor for farms, and (3) an authentic farm lifestyle experience. In
contrast to the first two, this third objective, the authentic lifestyle, resists market-based logics.
Instead, logics that did govern behavior include: membership in a movement; an ascetic bent; the
valorization of farmers and the authentic farm lifestyle; alignment with clean, healthy, and dirty
parts of the job; and communitarianism. These logics point towards the creation of a third type of
nonmarket/quasimarket space (Gibson-Graham, Cameron, & Healy, 2013). I describe several
considerations for on-farm apprenticeship to lead to greater equity, reproduction of viable small
farm labor models, and stabilized and legitimized nonmarket understandings of what makes on-
farm apprenticeship function.
On-Farm Apprenticeships: Labor Identities and Sociocultural Reproduction within
Alternative Agrifood Movements
Lorien Eleanora MacAuley
GENERAL AUDIENCE ABSTRACT
On-farm apprenticeships are gaining momentum as an important strategy for beginning
farmer training. They are also a space where people express and craft their identities as members
of the alternative agrifood movement. Alternative agrifood movements promote the environment,
food quality, egalitarianism, and agrarianism, but may be more culturally relevant for upper- to
middle-class white social groups. They also promote romanticized notions of farming and
agrarianism, while supporting neoliberal dogmatic approaches to social change. On-farm
apprenticeships are treated as beginning farmer training, or cheap/free labor, and as sites of
tension between economic and non-economic attributes. I examined this scenario using cultural
historical activity theory, cognitive praxis, and cultural identity theory. With critical
ethnographic case study methods, I conducted 53 days of participant observation, worked
alongside 19 apprentices on six farms for 37 days, conducted 25 interviews, and examined 407
documents. I observed how whiteness and class-based work practices are being mediated by
AAM discourses. Furthermore, I observed three distinct objectives for participants’ involvement
in on-farm apprenticeships: (1) beginning farmer training, (2) cheap labor for farms, and (3)
having an authentic farm lifestyle experience. In contrast to the first two, this third objective, the
authentic lifestyle, defies the rules of economics/neoliberalism. Instead, behavior appeared to be
governed by: membership in a movement; an ascetic bent; the valorization of farmers and the
authentic farm lifestyle; alignment with clean, healthy, and dirty parts of the job; and
communitarian values. These rules point towards the creation of a nonmarket/quasimarket space.
This study highlights how on-farm apprenticeship can be tweaked to promote greater equity,
reproduce viable small farm labor practices, and stabilize and legitimize a nonmarket
understanding of the ins and outs of on-farm apprenticeships.
DEDICATION
I hereby dedicate this dissertation to my “dissertation baby,” Serena Rose Saiorse, who
accompanied me during my fieldwork (in utero), often slept soundly in my lap as I typed, and
who has kept me laughing each day.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to first and foremost acknowledge my dissertation committee chair, the
“Chief,” Dr. Kim Niewolny. Throughout my graduate school experience, she has truly shown me
insights into agriculture, education, development, and life, that I really never before dreamed.
She also, importantly, inspired me stay the course, by showing me firsthand how academics are
not simply thought exercises toward a piece of paper, but lead to real social impacts and
possibility for transformation on the ground. Kim, this dissertation is your accomplishment as
much as it is mine. I also wish to acknowledge my ‘dream team’ of dissertation advisory
committee members, Dr. Thomas G. Archibald, Dr. Anthony Kwame Harrison, and Dr. Max O.
Stephenson, Jr. It has been a true pleasure to hear their insights on my work. Each of them has
blown my mind in different ways, ensuring that this grad school experience has been a true
‘education’ in the sense that it has left me a changed person, leading a more examined life. For
the learning they have gifted me, there is no way to measure ‘thanks.’ You all are my heroes.
Also, I must acknowledge the unceasing support of my husband, my rock, David T.
Hewett, without which none of this would have been possible. This dissertation is made possible
through his amazing powers of flexibility, positive attitude, and tireless efforts to ensure that I
kept my mental health intact throughout this process. I must also acknowledge my family, for
forever guiding me in resourcefulness, ingenuity, and “hobbit-like resilience.” I am truly gifted
to be a part of it all.
Finally, I acknowledge the anonymous participants in this study, for their hours of
conversation, nuanced insights, hours of laughter, and, often, friendship. We sweated together,
braved the black widow spiders together, and got stuck by the spiny pigweed together. I am
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insanely lucky to have you all as my guides throughout my fieldwork, and truly indebted to you
all.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. viii
GENERAL AUDIENCE ABSTRACT........................................................................................... x
DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... ix
LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xiii
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... xiv
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1
Background ................................................................................................................................. 1
Research Purpose and Questions................................................................................................. 5
Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................... 6
Research Methodology ................................................................................................................ 7
Significance of the Study ............................................................................................................ 8
Clarification of Terms ............................................................................................................... 10
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................... 13
On-Farm Apprenticeship: Brief Overview ................................................................................ 13
On-farm Apprenticeships within the Beginning Farmer Discourse .......................................... 14
The Cultural Politics of On-Farm Apprenticeship Education ................................................... 16
Alternative Agrifood Movements (AAMs) ............................................................................... 22
AAM Discourse and Cognitive Praxis Overview .................................................................. 23
Whiteness and Localism ........................................................................................................ 27
Romanticized Agrarianism and Nostalgia ............................................................................. 30
Reproduction of Neoliberalist Assumptions .......................................................................... 33
Privilege, Work, and Social Reproduction ................................................................................ 38
Farm Labor Issues ..................................................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ......................................................................... 59
Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) ............................................................................ 59
Cognitive Praxis from New Social Movement Theory ............................................................. 65
Cultural Identity Theory from Cultural Studies ........................................................................ 71
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Interaction of Complementary Theories in the Study ............................................................... 74
CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 82
Introduction to Methodology .................................................................................................... 82
Research Approach ................................................................................................................... 82
Ontology, Epistemology, and Axiology Explained ............................................................... 83
Critical Constructivist Paradigmatic Orientation .................................................................. 90
Rationale for the Critical Ethnographic Case Study Methodology ....................................... 94
Reflexivity Statement ................................................................................................................ 97
Research Questions ................................................................................................................. 101
Research Process ..................................................................................................................... 103
Research Timeline ............................................................................................................... 107
Data Collection .................................................................................................................... 107
Data Analysis Process ......................................................................................................... 120
Measuring Quality of the Research ......................................................................................... 122
Chapter Summary of Methodology ......................................................................................... 132
CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS .......................................................................................................... 133
Findings Introduction .............................................................................................................. 133
Activity System Dimensions ................................................................................................... 135
CHAT-Subject/Actor Identity ................................................................................................. 136
Levels of Privilege within the Activity System ................................................................... 137
Agrarian Identities: Symbolic forms of Agrarianism .......................................................... 139
AAM Discourse Mediation: Being “part of a movement” .................................................. 143
Noncapitalistic Ideals .......................................................................................................... 146
Encountering and Negotiating Productivist Ideas ............................................................... 149
Voluntary Simplicity with an Ascetic Bent ......................................................................... 156
Negotiating Manual Labor Identities (Dirty Work) ............................................................ 164
CHAT-Object/Goal ................................................................................................................. 177
Object: Train Beginning Farmers ........................................................................................ 178
Object: Inexpensive Labor for the “In-the-Know” Farms ................................................... 179
Object: Authenticity, Lifestyle Experience ......................................................................... 181
Conflict Between Objects .................................................................................................... 184
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